


Magical Misfits and Other Oddities

by QuietConspiracy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bromance, Coming of Age, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Harry Potter Next Generation, Homophobia, Hufflepuff Phil, Muggle Technology, Muggle-born Dan, Plantboy Phil, Pureblood Phil, Sexuality Crisis, Slytherin Dan, Spaceboy Dan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-13 05:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7964158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietConspiracy/pseuds/QuietConspiracy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dan returns for his O.W.L. year at Hogwarts, he must learn to juggle the prospects of new friends, academic responsibilities, his ever-expanding YouTube fanbase, and his confusion over his sexuality. Throw in the Hogwarts Golden Boy's rumored interest in him, and this may make for his most interesting year yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I: The Beginning of Everything

What should’ve been a typical back-to-school morning started off with a bang, followed by a series of mewls and meows.

Dan rolled over to turn off his alarm clock, only to realize it’d gone off an hour ago and had since crashed to the floor.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Dan swore as he scrambled out of bed, nearly tripping over his cat’s cage in the process.

“Sorry, Smudge.” he said as the black-and-white cat glared up from her cage at him, green eyes seeming to narrow. He dashed over to his dresser to grab an outfit for the day. Ten minutes of frantic digging later, he’d found his Nirvana shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans to go along with his trainers and socks.

After getting dressed, pouring Smudge some water and feeding her a sedative-laced treat, and running downstairs, Dan’d managed to make himself a bowl of cereal just as his mum entered the room.

“Morning, sweetheart. Excited for your new year?” Dan, being mid-bite, could only nod. After swallowing, he answered her.

“Yup. Dad coming this morning?” he asked, though judging by the silence that followed, he’d gotten affirmation for what he’d already suspected.

“Dan, he’s apologized, but—“

“Company meeting, yeah, yeah. Not wanting to acknowledge his freak of a son, I get it.”

“You’re not a freak, sweetie.”

“Tell that to the rest of my year.” Dan finished the rest of his cereal in silence. As he got up to put his bowl in the sink, he turned to ask him mum another question. “D’you have the car ready for Smudge?”

“Of course. And your trunk is packed?” Dan nodded. “Rucksack?”

“Shite.”

“Language, Daniel James.”

“Sorry, Mum.”

“It’s all right, Dan. Go and finish now; we’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

“Right.” Dan went back upstairs and shut the door to his room before letting Smudge out to stretch her legs. He grabbed his laptop and charger off of his desk. He fumbled around for a bit before finding his tripod and video camera; as soon as he’d found them, they too went into his rucksack. Now that all his things were packed, Dan went over to the nightstand and picked up his wand.

He’d never expected to receive an owl on his eleventh birthday; of course, the accompanying letter had managed to explain quite a lot. Thankfully, his mother had taken the visit from Professor Longbottom well; his dad, on the other hand—

“Dan! Five minutes!”

“Coming, mum!” He stuck his wand in his pocket, wrangled Smudge into her cage, put his bag on his back, and headed down to start loading the car.

-

The car ride out to Kings’ Cross was brief; luckily, they’d arrived a half-hour early and gotten a decent parking spot. Dan unloaded the boot of the car while his mum grabbed a trolley.

The two made it to Platform 9 in no time; it was always here where Dan’s mum chose to say her goodbyes.

“Dan, behave yourself this year; I don’t any more letters from the headmistress. Write me, too, if you have time, at least once a week. And don’t forget, sweetheart, I love you.”

“Love you too, Mum.” Dan said as he bent down to give her a hug. She kissed him on the cheek as he let go.

“This is your…fifth year?” He nodded. “Isn’t this what that nice young man—”

“Professor Longbottom, Mum.”

“—that nice young man said was an exam year?”

Dan nodded. “My O.W.L. year. I’ll be busier, yeah, but I promise to write.”

“Do.” His mum checked her watch. “You’d better go, then; train leaves in seven minutes.”

“Of course. Love you, Mum. See you at Christmas.”

She smiled as he turned his back and pushed his trolley toward the platform barrier.

-

Dan hadn't quite made it to the train early enough to snag his own compartment, leaving his options for solitude where he wouldn’t likely be bugged few and far between.

 _Fantastic_ , he’d though to himself. After all, it wasn’t like he really had friends to go sit with. His housemates treated him as a bit of an oddity, and considering his combination of blood status and house he felt that was fair enough.

Eventually, he’d settled on a relatively empty compartment with only two other students; though neither were in his house, he’d recognized one as a beater from the Gryffindor team who he thought was in the year above him. The other one was buried nose-deep in what looked to be a battered copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6._

Dan knocked on the compartment door, catching the Gryffindor’s attention.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

The other boy nodded. “Yeah, fine by me.”

Dan slid the door open and took the seat next to the reading boy, setting his rucksack and Smudge’s cage at his feet. “Thanks.”

The boy nodded absent-mindedly. The reader, finally registering another presence, looked up from his book.

“Hello there.”

“Hey.”

Reader-boy stuck out his hand. “I’m Patrick Liguori, but call me PJ. Please.”

Dan shook it. “Dan Howell. Nice to meet you.”

“Wait, Howell, as in—“

“Yeah, I’m that one. The freak of the snakes.”

“You don’t seem like a freak to me.” PJ said. “And Chris, for fuck’s sake, stop glaring at the kid. He’s not going to bite you.”

Chris, who Dan guessed must’ve been the other boy, snorted. “Yeah, right. He’s a snake, it’s what they do.”

“Just because you’re a Gryffindor—”

“It’s a rivalry thing, Peej. You’re in Ravenclaw, you wouldn’t understand.”

PJ raised an eyebrow. “Fine. Drop the dickish attitude, though. The ride’s difficult enough as is.”

“He’ll have to prove himself worthy first, though.”

“Christopher—”

“Fine, fine, I’ll stop. Happy now?” Chris scowled at the smirking PJ.

“Good. Phil’s going to be happy to see some inter-house cooperation.”

Chris snorted again. “Hufflepuffs. Weird as all shite, I’m telling you.”

PJ didn’t argue that point, and returned back to his reading.

After a bit of silence, Dan decided to pull out his wand; after all, he was on the train now, so it was technically safe to use magic again.

Chris, who’d seemingly been staring out the window, immediately turned his attention to Dan and his wand. “What sort of wood is that?”

PJ looked over his book at Dan. “Just a warning, he’s kind of a giant nerd when it comes to wands.”

“You would be too if your family was connected to the Ollivanders.” Chris shot back. “Anyway—let me see.”

“Promise to not use it against me?” Dan asked, still not fully trusting Chris.

“Of course.” Dan held out his wand, and Chris took it, spinning it around in his fingers, careful not to drop it.

“So it’s a solid wood, albeit an unusual one. Ironwood?” Dan nodded. “What sort of core?”

“Dragon heartstring, I think.” 

Chris nodded. “Makes sense. After all, it’s a proven statistic from the Ministry’s records that roughly forty percent of all wands with dragon-heartstring cores belong to Slytherin owners. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course.” he added the last sentence in nervously.

“Interesting.” Dan said.

Chris nodded again. “Isn’t it?”

“Not really.” PJ remarked from behind his book.

“Hush, you.” Chris snapped as he returned Dan’s wand to the younger boy. “Unless, of course, you want to play a round of Exploding Snap?”

“Only for a best of three in Wizards’ Chess.”

“Done.”

“Care to join us, Howell?” PJ asked.

“Only if you’ll call me Dan instead.”

PJ smiled. “I can do that.”

-

Six rounds of Exploding Snap and two chess games later, the door to their compartment opened.

Dan looked up from his copy of _The Hobbit_ , hoping to see the food trolley. Instead, he was met by another student in full uniform, complete with a Hufflepuff crest as well as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain badges.

“Phil!” PJ exclaimed. “About time you joined us. Meetings up front done yet?”

“Finally.” Phil said as he took the spot next to Chris. “So.” He nodded in Dan’s direction. “Who’s the new bloke?”

Dan extended his hand. “Dan Howell. Slytherin. And you?”

Phil smiled as he shook Dan’s hand. “Phil Lester. Pleasure to meet you.” A moment’s pause. “Although I must admit, I’m a bit surprised Chris hasn’t tried to bite your head off.”

PJ rolled his eyes as he moved his knight. “Right, forgot you missed that part.” he said.

“Christopher—“ Phil’s eyes darkened slightly, and to Dan’s surprised the Gryffindor winced.

“It’s fine now. Really, it is.” Dan cut Phil off, earning a grateful look from Chris.

“Good.” Phil said, then looked over to the book in Dan’s hand. “ _The Hobbit_?” he asked, looking puzzled. “Never heard of it.”

Dan’s jaw dropped for a moment before he closed his mouth. “Don’t supposed most people would have, considering the author’s a Squib.” 

“Really now?” Phil said. “Interesting. Tell me more?”

And so Dan did.

-

After eating more sugar quills and pumpkin pasty than he ever thought his stomach could hold, Phil had to leave to do “one last round” around the train to make sure everything was going smoothly.

“I’ll be back before you know it. Though do get changed before I’m back.” Phil said as he shut the door behind him.

Dan took that time to dig through his rucksack and find his uniform. By the time he’d found all of it, Chris was already changed, save for the hat, tie, and robe. PJ, on the other hand, had already been in his robes so he was back to reading his texts.

Dan quickly scrambled into his uniform; however, it took longer than expected as he’d almost put his shirt on backwards. Eventually, he’d gotten it on the right way and was mid-tie-tying when Phil re-entered the compartment.

“That was fast.” PJ remarked. “Anything interesting—”

“That blasted Potter kid was trying to set a Dungbomb off in the WC and blame it on the Slytherin compartment next door.”

Chris sucked in a breath. “Hoo boy. Hopefully he doesn’t try anything reckless at tryouts this year.” It was then that a badge on Chris’s robe caught Dan’s eye.

“You’re captain too?” Dan asked.

“No shite, Sherlock.” PJ said. When he caught Dan’s confused look, he shrugged. “What? My cousins on my mum’s side are Muggles; they introduced me to the BBC series on Netflix.”

“Wait, you’re a half-blood?” Dan asked.

PJ rolled his eyes. “Considering my mum’s Muggleborn, it’d be rather hard to be pureblood.”

“PJ.” Phil reprimanded the Ravenclaw. “He didn’t know. Not his fault.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“’s fine.” Dan said.

“Got nothing against half-bloods, though, right?” Chris asked dubiously.

Dan snorted. “Considering my own blood status, it’d be rather hypocritical to assume I did.”

“Blood status?” Phil asked.

“Muggle-born brat, at your service.” Dan did a fake bow.

“But you’re in Slytherin.” Phil said.

“It’s not entirely unheard of. Just…incredibly rare.” Dan answered.

Just then, the train began to slow.

“Almost there.” PJ concluded.

-

At the feast that night, Dan found himself sitting at the relatively isolated end of the Slytherin table, just the way he liked it.

He’d tuned out the Sorting Hat’s song and only began to pay attention once he heard the first name called.

“Ambrose, Imogen.” Dan’s head swiveled to see an absolutely tiny little girl climbing the steps to sit on the stool. The hat sat on her head for maybe ten seconds before making its decision.

“SLYTHERIN!” Dan clapped politely at this announcement, not particularly caring one way or the other. He did the same for each student in turn. Eventually, only four students remained.

“Weasley, Lucy.”

“Another one?” one of the other boys whispered to his friend.

The hat, however, took a surprisingly long time to decide. After what seemed like an eternity, the hat proclaimed one word.

“SLYTHERIN!” Though the hat left Lucy’s head, she didn’t move. Of course, Dan couldn’t blame her; after all, the whole hall was either staring at her or murmuring in concern.

So Dan did the only thing he could do. He started clapping as loudly as he could. After a shocked silence, the rest of his table joined in. Lucy visibly relaxed and went down to join her new housemates, eventually choosing the seat directly next to Dan.

“C-can I sit here?” the girl asked shyly. 

Dan nodded. “Of course. Welcome to Slytherin, Miss Weasley.”

“Thanks. Call me Lucy, though, please?”

Dan smiled. “Sure, Lucy. I’m Dan, by the way—“

“Do you _really_ want to be associating yourself with that freak, child?” a shrill voice Dan recognized as Bryony Zabini interrupted him.

“He’s not a freak, you meanie.” Lucy spoke up. “And besides, are you deaf, or did you just miss my surname? I don’t exactly fit in here either, so can it.”

Bryony’s mouth opened again, but no sound came out. Eventually, she sneered in disgust. “Fine. Have it your way, bitch.”

“She’s _eleven,_ Zabini, and you’ve got what? Five years on her? Grow up. She’s a child.” Dan glared at her.

After Bryony’s attentions had been turned elsewhere, Lucy spoke again. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“But why’d she call you a freak?” Lucy asked him.

“Oh, nothing much, just the fact I’m the product of an accountant and a substitute teacher.”

“So you’re—“

“—Muggle-born, yeah.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. “But isn’t that, like, unheard of for Slytherins?”

“Not exactly. Only the seventh documented case since accurate records of students’ blood status first became available in the thirteenth century.”

“Woah.”

“Yeah, ‘woah.’ Pass the potatoes, Lucy?”

-

After Dan’d settled back into his dorm room and reclaimed his old bed, he’d set up Smudge’s bed and let her out of her cage. His dorm mates had all gone out for the moment, so Dan decided it’d be the perfect chance to shower and prep for bed.

Forty-five minutes later, he’d settled into his bed, drawn the curtains around him, and pulled out his wand.

Casting the Ceiling-Changer Charm he’d learned in third year, he changed the top of his canopy to reflect the night sky, something that comforted him as he put his wand under his pillow and feel fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After publishing my last story, I pretty much started working on this one immediately. Of course, as school's started up, I can't promise that updates will be particularly regular, but I'll do the best I can. However, the fact that I'm aiming for 2,000-3,000 word chapters might make things a bit easier.
> 
> If you like it, comment, bookmark, leave kudos, subscribe, whatever.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> -QC


	2. II: First Day

The following morning, Dan was the first one up out of all his roommates. Though he wasn’t a morning person, he also knew it’d be safer to be out of the dormitories before any of the others roused.

After a quick loo trip and feeding Smudge a treat, Dan spent the morning struggling to open his bottle of Sleekeazy’s to tame his hair. Finally deciding to give up, he’d gotten dressed and left his dorm room mere seconds before the others in his room stirred.

-

At breakfast that morning, he’d been halfway done with his beans and toast when another person sat down next to him.

“Hi, Dan.”

He looked around for the source of the voice, only to realize he should’ve been looking down. “Hi, Lucy. Sleep okay?”

She nodded. “My dorm mates are pretty nice. Well, mostly. Imogen’s the nicest, though.”

“That’s good.” he smiled. Just then, he spotted three familiar figures in three different colored robes settling in at the Ravenclaw table. “Listen, Lucy, I’ll be right back, okay?”

“‘Kay.” she said, though by that point Dan was out of earshot. He settled in next to PJ.

“Morning, guys.”

“Dan!” PJ said. “How’s the dungeons?”

Dan shrugged. “Not bad. Same old, same old. What about—“

A clang on the table behind them got all four’s attention. Dan was the first to turn around.

“Uh-oh.”

Surrounding Lucy were the Potter kid and two of his lackeys, fellow Weasleys who for the life of him Dan couldn’t remember the name of—all Gryffindors, naturally. Phil and Dan both made movements toward the table.

“How could you do this to us, Luce? Familial betrayal, this is.” Potter spat.

“Funny, I don’t remember you saying that to Vic or Molls when they ended up outside of Gryffindor.” Lucy shot back.

“That was different.”

“How so?”

“Neither of them were snakes, unlike—“

“Potter, that’s enough.” Phil’s voice caught the second-year off guard. “Quit harassing your cousin, and ten points from Gryffindor. Each.”

The blond one spoke up. “But I didn’t—“

“Standing back and watching can be just as bad as saying things. Now scram, or I’ll make it twenty points each.” The three younger boys gulped and nodded, and Dan sat back down by Lucy.

“You all right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I just…wasn’t expecting that, though I guess that’s what I de—“

“Lucy. Look at me.” Dan said, and she did. “Nobody ought to be harassed because of who they are. Trust me. If you need someone to talk to, I’ll be here, okay?”

Lucy smiled a tiny bit. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Now come on, I’ll introduce you to my other friends.”

“A-are you sure? I don’t wanna—”

“It’s fine, Lucy. Right, Phil?” Dan turned to the head boy, who nodded. “See? You’re going to be just fine. Nobody’s going to mess with you on our watch.”

-

It was during his first class, Potions, that Dan wished that someone had been there to make sure no one messed with him. Indeed, one of the other Slytherins had tried to replace his and his partner Louise’s crushed snake fangs with Erumpet horn powder (something Lou had caught at the last second before the other student walked off with it).

“It’s going to be a long year if they try this sort of shite every class.” Dan said as he stirred the bubbling liquid, leading the Hufflepuff girl to nod.

“I don’t understand, though; why try and do that?” she asked.

Dan shrugged. “Because they hate me, maybe?”

“Dan—“

“Louise, it’s true. Stop trying to deny it. It’s easier for you, as you don’t have to live with this sort of arsehole behavior because of your blood status.”

She bit her lip and looked down at the cauldron. “Is the Pepperup Potion supposed to be this color?”

Dan looked down. “Fuck.”  
-

By some small miracle, Louise was able to salvage the Potion, earning the two an E for the day.

After Potions, Dan was free until Defense that afternoon, so he headed off to the library for some peace and quiet.

He’d no sooner settled into the corner and pulled out his copy of _A Brief History of_ _Time_ when Phil sat down across from him.

“Hey.”

Dan nodded, but didn’t respond out loud.

“Whatcha reading?” the other boy asked.

“Muggle astrophysics book.” Dan said without his eyes leaving the page.

“Astro-what?”

“Like astronomy, sort of.”

“You actually like astronomy?” Phil asked, sounding surprised.

“It’s fascinating. No, really.” Dan says, sensing Phil’s skepticism. “It’s about discovering and learning about what else is out there—like, perhaps aliens, you know? After all, Muggles don’t believe in wizards, but here we are. Why, then, should we believe we’re the only ones out there on some…what’s the word…insignificant—there we go, yeah—insignificant speck in the universe?”

“When you put it that way…” Phil says.

“Yeah?”

“I see where you’re coming from. That said, I much prefer things I can actually touch, like plants.”

“You like Herbology?”

“You don’t?”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Please. I’m lucky I even scraped in A on my final last year.”

“I could tutor you. If you want.” Phil offers.

“Aren’t you busy enough already?”

“I always make time for friends.”

Friends. For Dan, that word was vaguely unfamiliar; after all, he stuck out enough in Slytherin to not really have housemates that were comfortable around him—even the younger students, who’d usually drop the nice act once they realized he was Muggle-born. And outside of Slytherin, the only person whom he’d really interacted with up until now had been Louise, as most people were relatively wary of Slytherins.

“So we’re friends now, then?”

Phil nods. “If you’d like to be, then yes. I know PJ likes you and Chris—well, he’s Chris, but he hasn't been too bad to you and seems to tolerate you.”

“And what about you?”

“Dan, you took a girl whose own family tried to harass her under your wing. I can see that alone shows your natural compassion, even though it also falls into the ‘Slytherins take care of their own’ sort of interaction. That’s good enough for me.”

Dan smiled again—two more times in a day than he could ever remember smiling since he started at Hogwarts.

“Sure, I guess. Thanks…friend.”

Phil’s own grin was scarcely concealed. “Any time. I’ve got to go now; sit with Peej and Chris and me at the Hufflepuff table at dinner tonight?”

“Sounds great. See you.”

-

Dinner’d gone relatively well, Dan supposed; he'd joked around a bit with Chris and PJ and listened to the other three talk about their schedules this year—after all, they were all past O.W.L. level, so they’d been in fewer classes, with Chris not having any that day.

Louise and her friend (Zelda? Zinnia? It’d started with a Z) from Gryffindor had even stopped by at one point to say hello. Of course, by that point it’d been near the end of dinner; Dan had excused himself early, citing a toilet break as a way to get out of the conversation.

In reality, he’d run up to an empty corridor, where a door quickly made itself visible to him. As he’d shut the door behind him, he’d stripped off his uniform in favor of a plain gray jumper and tight-fitting black sweatpants. He stuffed the other clothes into his rucksack and grabbed his electronic equipment. After undoing the Shrinking Charm he’d cast on them, he tapped his wand on his laptop

“Electrum Potestatem.” he’d said as he turned the laptop on. Slowly but surely, it came to life. He’d done the same on his other equipment and quickly got it set up. In a matter of moments, he was ready to start filming, though he’d had to hide his wand away before doing so.

“Hello, Internet.” Dan said, relaxing visibly as the camera started rolling. “So last night I moved back into my dorms at school. Same old, same old—no new friends. Or so I’d thought.”  
He’d went on to include the anecdotes from the train ride with PJ and Chris, editing the magical details—changing Exploding Snap to blackjack, and sugar quills to fairy floss. What resulted, then, was a mostly-true account of the previous two days, with some minor edits. He’d left out the Sorting Hat on purpose; instead, he’d said that due to a housing mix-up Lucy had ended up in his dormitory instead of with her cousins. Likewise, he’d changed Potions to Chemistry and Defense to Ethics.

“So yeah. Been an absolutely insane last couple days, and I dunno when I’ll be able to upload again. So leave a comment, subscribe if you haven’t, give me a thumbs up, all that sort of thin. Bye for now, thanks for watching.” Dan said. He then turned off the camera and downloaded the footage to his laptop, edited it in the span of an hour, and had it beginning to upload onto his YouTube channel before he checked the time. Luckily, he still had forty-five minutes before curfew and the video was halfway done uploading. He started shrinking down the rest of his equipment and changed back into his uniform.

Forty-two minutes later, the video was finally done, leaving Dan to hurriedly power down his laptop, shrink it, stick it in his bag, and run out of the room.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Norris spotted him on the stairwell between the third and second floors. The next thing Dan was aware of was being dragged to the Headmistress’s office.

-

“I’m quite disappointed in you, Mr. Howell.” Professor McGonagall frowned down at Dan, who felt himself shrinking in his seat. “After all, this is your fifth year; you know the rules.”

“And yet, you’re keeping me out later by having this discussion.”

McGonagall glared at him over the top of her glasses. “Five points from Slytherin.”

“Really?”

“I’ll make it ten if you prefer.”   
Dan bit his cheek. “Five’s good, thanks.”

“And being out of bed isn’t the only reason I had you brought in. I was going to send the message out tomorrow, but—”

“Yes?”

“As part of the school’s renewed efforts to improve inter-house relations, the heads of House and I have decided to pull together a committee of students from all years and houses to get to know other students from other houses and create a more peaceful environment. A friend of yours, as well as Professor Slughorn, recommended that you be given a slot.”

“What?”

“Of course, you’re allowed to back out of the offer—”

“I’m sorry, Professor, but why me?”

“Daniel,” McGonagall said, “you’ve shown considerable levels of politeness to your classmates in your year, regardless of house—”

“Right, because I clearly can’t treat others with decency since I’m a Slytherin.” Dan muttered.

McGonagall shot him another look. “—and your lack of bonds within your own house has not gone unnoticed. Both Professor Slughorn and I are aware of your…unusual characteristics…as a Slytherin, and as such—”

“As if all that was my fault? Professor, with all due respect, I spent the majority of my first three years—not weeks, not months, but years—on the receiving end of no small rudenesses from my housemates, and yet nothing was done against them. So excuse me if I’m not rushing to be their dearest companions.”   
“Mr. Howell, this is your last warning. One more interruption, and you’ll have a fortnight of detentions.”

Dan swallowed hard. “Understood.”

“As I was saying, Daniel, we were hoping this would give you a chance to make some connections with people and grow socially and emotionally as a Hogwarts student and normal teenager.”

“But I am a normal teenager.” Dan protested. “Besides, I’ve met a few other students in other houses and been friendly with them; that’s progress, isn't it?”

McGonagall nodded. “It is. You don't have to decide tonight, Mr. Howell; in fact, you have until the end of next week to decide. Shall that be sufficient time?”

Dan nodded. “It should be, yeah.”

He could've sworn McGonagall almost smiled. “Good. I’ll be awaiting your response. However, it’s late now; perhaps you should head back to your dorm.”

“Already heading back.” Dan said as he grabbed his rucksack. “Good night, Professor.”

“Good night, Daniel.”

As the door out of the office shut behind him, Dan sighed. After all, he now had much more to think about than that Defense theory essay (three rolls of parchment! Honestly, what was Professor Macmillan thinking?) and Potions homework.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a faster turn-around time than I was expecting. Not too shabby, though the next chapter may be a while.
> 
> Also: the spell Dan uses to get his electronics to work translates roughly from Latin to "electric power" in English. At least, according to Google translate.
> 
> If you enjoyed the chapter, subscribe, leave kudos, bookmark, comment, whatever. 
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> -QC


	3. III: Dan's Decision

The next several days flew by quickly for Dan, as he was busy trying to keep on top of his homework as well as finishing _The Hobbit._

On Thursday, Dan was loaded down with double Herbology, Transfiguration, and Ancient Runes. Luckily, Herbology was another class he had Louise in; it made the class that much more bearable, despite the fact neither of them was particularly good at the subject.

“So…what are we supposed to be doing with this sucker again?” Dan said as he held up a Fanged Geranium.

“We’re repotting them, Dan. We’ve been over this. Three times.” Louise rolled her eyes. She handed him a pot that was mostly filled with dirt. “In here.”

“Fuck, it bit me again.” the Slytherin said as he put the plant down in the dirt.

“Seriously?”

“I’d like to see you do better.”

“Who’s the one who passed their exam last year by more than one-tenth of a point?”

“Touché.” Dan finished covering the base of the geranium with dirt. “We done yet?”

“Five more to go.”

“Kill me, someone.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

-

It was toward the end of Transfiguration class when something unexpected happened.

Dan—who was usually the student who struggled with the practical applications of the theories they had learned in class—was the first student to successfully vanish the teacup he was practicing on.

“Nicely done, Mr. Howell. Five points to Slytherin.”

Dan looked up from his desk, still not quite believing what had just happened. “Thanks, Professor.” 

Professor Clearwater smiled back. “You’re very welcome.” Just then, she noticed the time. “Two minutes until the end of the lesson. Wands down, everyone.” Everyone obeyed, and Professor Clearwater spoke again. “It’s all right if you didn’t get it this time, class; just practice outside of class on a small inanimate object, such as a quill or parchment scrap until you get the hang of it. Twelve inches on the history of Vanishing Spells will also be due at the beginning of class on Monday. And would the following students stay behind for a few moments after class: Mr. Howell, Mr. Oakley, Ms. Pentland, and Ms. Sugg. Everyone else, you’re free to go.”

A few moments later, Dan was left in the room with Louise, her friend Zoe (Dan’d finally gotten her name right the day before), and a light-haired Hufflepuff boy he didn’t remember the name of.

“As you four know, you each received an invitation from the Headmistress to join the Committee for Inter-House Unity. So far, you four and a couple of other students not in this class are the ones who have yet to respond. The Headmistress would like your responses by tonight, if possible; if not, by the end of breakfast tomorrow. The first meeting will be held at four P.M. on Saturday in the Charms classroom. Any further questions can be directed to the Headmistress, myself, Professor Longbottom, Professor Macmillan, or Professor Slughorn.”

The Hufflepuff boy—Oakley, apparently, raised his hand.

“Mr. Oakley?”

“So what exactly does this committee do?”

“Good question. So far, we’re working toward inter-house peace and planning school-wide activities. Other options will be discussed on Saturday.” Professor Clearwater looked down at her watch again. “All of you are dismissed—except Mr. Howell, if he doesn’t mind?”

“Erm—”

“If you have class, I will write a note for you explaining your tardiness.”

Dan relaxed a little as the other four left. “Thanks.”

“No problem, Daniel. As I understand it, you’re in the same house as my niece, Lucy, correct?” Dan nodded, so Professor Clearwater continued. “Is she alright? From what I’ve gathered, you seem to look out for her a lot, unlike some of her cousins.”

Dan swallowed. “Erm, I guess she’s settling fine. Other than an incident with the Potter kid in Gryffindor, I haven’t heard of anything being problematic.”

Professor Clearwater smiled again. “Good. Thank you, Daniel; I just want to make sure she’s doing well, considering the unforeseen circumstances.”

“Understandable.”

“Which class is your next one?”

“Runes.”

“Excellent. Rather did like that class myself, though I wasn’t as keen on it as other subjects.” She handed him a piece of parchment. “Off with you, now; shoo, shoo!”

-

Though Ancient Runes had proven to be more tedious than usual, Dan counted his blessings that he’d actually made it through a whole period without dozing off.

As he made his was down to the common room, he bumped into two familiar sixth-years.

“Chris! PJ! Hey!”

“Dan, didn’t see you there.” Chris said. “Of course, that’s not so hard when you’re that short…” 

“I’m only two inches shorter than you, Chris; besides, I’m five-eleven, which is still taller than dear old Peej,”

“Hardly.”

“Okay, Mr. ‘I’m five-ten-and-three-quarters-I-just-haven’t-hit-my-last-growth-spurt-yet.’”

Chris snorted as PJ glared at the younger boy. After a couple more steps, PJ dropped the charade.

“Headed somewhere, Howell?” the Ravenclaw asked.

“Actually, I was going to drop my books off in the Common Room—”

“Except for that one book you were telling Phil about on the train.” PJ said. “Honestly, that boy hasn’t shut up about it since you told him about it.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll drop off the rest of my books and meet you three for dinner—”

“Perfect.” PJ cut Dan off just as Chris went “Erm, actually—” 

“Yeah?”

“I’m not going to be at dinner.” Chris says. “Tryouts tonight.”

“Have fun with that.” Dan said.

“Should be interesting, as long as Potter doesn't think he’s entitled to a spot.”

“Hoo boy.” PJ said. “Glad that’s your issue, then.” Chris shot him a look.

“Right.” Dan said. “So…see you at dinner, Peej?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Excellent. And Chris—best of luck with tryouts.”

“Thanks.”

-

Dan’d made his decision by dinner time; however, he wasn’t sure how the decision would go over with his newfound friends. Of course, he knew he was probably just overthinking things as usual, but still.

He slid into the spot next to PJ at the Ravenclaw table; moments later, Louise joined them.

“Where’s Zoe?” Dan asked, confused by the fact the duo was separated.

“Quidditch tryouts. Chris is holding them and making all returning members go out for their spots again, I guess.” Louise shrugged. “Pass the potatoes?”

“Sure. What position does she play?”

“Seeker.” PJ answered, surprising both of the fifth-years. “What? I’m not stupid; I paid enough attention at last year’s matches to know this.”

“I didn’t know you liked Quidditch.”

“He never actually said that, you know.” a voice said.

“Phil! There you are!” PJ said as the older boy sat down and immediately started piling his plate with chicken.

“Yup. Long day, no thanks in part to the Gryffindors at the prefect meeting.” Phil rolled his eyes. “Bryant didn’t believe me when I said I’d caught Potter and the Weasels trying to set off Dungbombs in the girls’ toilet Moaning Myrtle likes. Of course, she’d believe Lupin if he were still here, but—”

“Wait, Kendra Bryant goes to Hogwarts?” Dan said. Phil nodded. 

“Do you know her?”

“She lived down the street from me growing up before she went of to some Socttish boarding sch—” He shut his mouth for a moment before slapping a head to his forehead. “Of _course_ her mum meant here; I’m such an idiot.”

“It’s a big school, Dan; not your fault, plus it isn’t like she’s in your house anyway.” Louise said.

“Still.” Dan said.

After that, the conversation took a turn towards Hufflepuff matters; it only made sense, considering half the group was Hufflepuff. Dan’d tuned them out, of course, since it hadn't been relevant to him.

It was only near the end of dinner when PJ asked something about Saturday that Dan started paying attention again.

“Can’t Peej; I’ve got a meeting that time.” Phil told the Ravenclaw.

“Oh…fuck, I’d forgotten about that.” PJ said.

“Dan, Lou, did you—”

Louise nodded. “Yes, and I’ll be there.” Three pairs of eyes suddenly focused on Dan, and the Slytherin felt himself shrink to about two inches tall.

In that moment, his answer flipped.

“Fine. I’ll go. I’ve got to tell McGonagall—”

“Don’t stress it.” Phil told him. “I’ll tell her tonight.”

“Thanks.” Dan swallowed the last of his pumpkin juice. “I’m going to go study up a bit; see you all tomorrow.”

Three goodbyes—Dan was still getting used to the fact people actually noticed, actually _cared_ that he wasn’t at the dinner table—and he was on his way back to the dungeons.

-

Dan had been staring at the same History of Magic page for two hours, knowing he was getting nowhere. He shut the book and stuck it back in his rucksack.

 _Why_ had the let his friends sway his decision? He’d never been one for big groups; of course, things had changed, now that he had a tiny bit of a social life. Still, he had a strange feeling he’d be one of only a few—if not the only—Slytherin there, which would make him stick out that much more. For someone who felt safer in the shadows, it was one hell of a risk to be taking. And he wasn’t a Gryffindor, who faced risk without trepidation; he was naturally more cautious then that.

Then again, maybe it was time to step out of his comfort zone. Of course, being surprisingly motivated to get his work done on time was pushing that a bit already—but still.

In the end, what would matter more to Dan? Friends, or fears?

Dan closed his eyes and let himself sit in the silence of his thoughts.

-

When he’d woken up, Dan’d checked his watch and realized it was nearly half past two in the morning. Realizing he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he decided to accept his current fate and dug through his rucksack to start the Arithmancy homework he hadn't so much as thought about since it was assigned.

Arithmancy turned into Charms turned into Astronomy, and before he realized it he’d finished most of his homework. After looking at his watch again—4:47 A.M.—Dan dug into his rucksack one last time and cracked open the book on the top of the pile.

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen…” he murmured under his breath.

-

After finishing the first three chapters of the novel, Dan shut the book and looked at the time. 6:52. He decided now’d be as good a time as ever to go get dressed and shower—he was beginning to smell, after all, though hopefully that was just a figment of his imagination.

When he finished cleaning himself up, Dan decided to try the new spell Louise had told him about for his hair.

Of course, he’d forgotten the tiny detail that it’d been one Zoe taught her; thus, the results in the mirror had turned out differently than expected.

“Damnit.” Dan bit his bottom lip after looking in the mirror. After all, how was he going to explain to his friends his impulsive decision to dye his hair pale green?

-

“Nice hair.” Lucy said as she passed Dan the porridge.

“Thanks.” Dan said. “Although I daresay it’s not quite up to dress code.”

Chris snorted as he took a sip of his coffee. “Please, we had Lupin running loose for years, always bright teal. Look how much trouble that got him into.”

“Wasn’t he a prefect and Head Boy?”

“Precisely.”

“You guys know Teddy?” Lucy asked.

“He was decent friends with Phil—decent bloke all around, actually, though a shite Quidditch player. You know him, kid?”

Lucy nodded. “He’s Uncle Harry’s godson.” She took a bite of her toast, chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed. “And—”

“I hate to interrupt,” Professor Longbottom said, “but may I speak with Dan, please?”

The other two nodded, and Dan got out of his seat.

“Professor?”

“Dan…you’re the last person that Headmistress McGonagall needs to hear from about—”

“I’m in.” Dan said. “Head Boy Lester—he said he’d tell her.”

“Oh. Right, then.” Professor Longbottom turned to look at Dan. “I’ll make sure that’s confirmed—as lovely a boy as Phil is, he’s not known for his memory.”

Dan chuckled. “Sounds about right.” A pause. “Well, see you in class, Professor.”

“See you around, Dan.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me longer than I'd hoped to finish, but here it is.
> 
> I don't know how much writing time I'll get in between fencing practice, classes, and Quidditch, but I'm going to finish this if it kills me.
> 
> The book Dan's reading near the end of the chapter is George Orwell's 1984. An excellent read, if you haven't checked it out before.
> 
> If you liked the chapter, comment/bookmark/leave kudos/subscribe/whatever.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> -QC


	4. IV: First Meeting

Dan awoke on Saturday morning to Smudge snuggling up to him; a surprising display of affection, but an appreciated one nonetheless. He lay there for a few moments before Smudge willingly moved on her own. Getting up, he decided it’d be prudent to write a letter to his mum before she got too worried about him.

He pulled out the fountain pen that’d been a gift from his uncle last Christmas and began writing.

_Dear Mum,_

_Not too much to say so far this year. School’s been busy—the botany class Prof. Longbottom teaches has been my most difficult by far, but then again you know I lack a green thumb. Maths, astronomy, and Latin have been pretty good, though a lot of work._

_As far as the friends thing goes—believe it or not, I’ve made a few. There’s Louise, who I think I’ve told you about a few times before, and her friend Zoe; those two are rarely seen apart. There’s also three guys I met the first day—PJ and Chris, who are in the year ahead of me, and Phil, who’s head boy and in his last year before he graduates. They’re all pretty interesting people—Chris and Phil are co-captains of the football team, while PJ’s more bookish, but we all get along pretty well._

_I hope you’re well. Perhaps this time next year you’ll have a full-time position—don’t lie and tell me you don’t want it, it’d be good for you to get out of the house and have a more stable wage and anyway that’s what you told me last month that you wanted. How is Adrian doing? Has he started school yet? Tell him I miss him._

_See you at Christmas!_

_Dan_

Satisfied with his work, he cast an Anti-Smudging Spell on the ink before folding the parchment and sealing it in a pre-addressed envelope.

He headed up to the Owlery, found a rather large brown owl, and attached the letter to its leg before setting it free. Satisfied, he went down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

-

The best thing about Hogwarts weekends, Dan decided, was no pressure to be in uniform. Instead, he’d donned his comfiest pair of black skinny jeans alongside his Muse t-shirt.

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Phil pointed to the shirt. 

“It’s a Muggle band. I’ll introduce you to them sometime, if you’d like.”

“Sure. I know wirelesses work in Hogwarts so perhaps that way?”

Dan thought about that fact for a moment. “Maybe. Would it pick up Muggle broadcast?”

Phil shrugged. “Dunno. Worth a shot.”

“When I get a response from my mum, I’ll ask her to send my wireless.”

Phil smiled. “Dan, you don’t—”

“Phil, you’re the one who said you were interested, don’t go backing out on me right n—”

“Okay, okay!” Phil chuckled. “I surrender. Go ahead, owl your mum about it.”

“Fine, I will.” Dan found himself laughing too.

“What’s so funny?” Chris asked as he sat down next to Phil.

“Nothing.” Dan said as he shot Phil a pointed look. “Inside joke, ’s all.”

“Ah. Nice to see you two bonding. Pass the cereal, Dan? I’m starved.”

“Will do, Chris, will do.”

-

Five minutes to four o’clock that afternoon found Dan making his way back into the Great Hall for the meeting.

Upon opening the door, the first thing he noticed was that the tables were arranged into a set of four rows facing the head table. The next thing he saw was that his instincts were right—only a small number of Slytherins were there; all three sets of the prefects (fifth through seventh year), himself, and a fourth year whose name he didn't quite remember. The others were all sitting together, but no seats were available near them, so Dan took one of the few remaining spots next to the Oakley kid from his Transfiguration class.

A small smile came from the other boy, but neither he nor Dan said anything.

In the row ahead, Dan spotted Louise and the rest of his friends; other familiar faces included three of the older Weasley kids, Zoe’s brother, and Professor Longbottom’s two oldest kids.

At four on the dot, the four Heads of House and the Headmistress walked in. Shortly after, two other adults followed; one was a fairly fit man with shaggy teal hair tied in a bun at the back of his head, while the other was a blonde woman wearing a Falmouth Falcons jersey. The man took a spot next to Professor Clearwater, while the woman took the seat next to Professor Slughorn.

Professor McGonagall rose from her seat. “Good afternoon. Welcome to the first Council for Inter-House Unity. As you may have noticed, we have a few guests here today with us. As recent Hogwarts alumni who have taken time out of their _very_ busy schedules to be with us. However, seeing as the council was their idea, the Heads of House and I thought it fitting that they should be here. Please join me in welcoming Teddy Lupin—” the teal-haired man stood and waved, “—and Imogene Brocklehurst.”

“GENIE!” One of the Weasleys—the youngest one, a fourth-year Dan thought was a Gryffindor—ran from her seat and nearly tackled the blonde woman in a fierce hug.

“Nice to see you too, Dominique.” Teddy rolled his eyes. “Anyway, hi guys! Please, just call me Teddy. Genie and I only just graduated, so no need for the formalities.”

As a now-crimson Dominique let go of Imogene and returned to her seat, the older girl smiled and went to stand next to Teddy. “Right. And you can call me Imogene or Genie, whichever you’re more comfortable with. A little bit about ourselves—I was a Gryffindor, four-year house Quidditch captain, and currently play for the Falcons reserve team, as you may have guessed from the jersey.” The last statement elicited a chuckle from most of the room.

“And I was Head Boy last year, as most of you know, and a Hufflepuff—though that doesn’t really matter. Currently, I’m training at Gringotts to become a curse-breaker.” Teddy said.

“But why come back so soon? It’s a bit of a long story, that. Wanna start, Ted?”

“Gladly. As many of you have seen and experienced on a daily basis, Hogwarts still has deeply drawn divides—try saying that three times fast—based on the decisions of a few moments of our lives as eleven-year-olds.” Teddy took a pause. “Now, before I accidentally start a riot, I’m not saying that the Sorting Hat isn’t important. Its biggest advantage is that it helps group those together who have similar traits, which makes it easier to find friends early on in school. But what about after those first few weeks? What, then, of the little Gryffindor who wants to befriend the Slytherin in his Potions class because he’s ‘so cool’ but is afraid to for fear of judgment from his house mates?”

Dan felt himself nodding along as Imogene continued. “Of course, it’s not just Gryffindors and Slytherins who are guilty of this—but the point still stands. True, no one is required to sit at ‘their house’ table in the Great Hall, save for the opening and closing feasts, but it’s rare to see kids cross those house lines more than once in a blue moon.”

“And so at the end of last year, Genie and I went to the Headmistress’s office and proposed an idea. A set of committees that would blend houses together and give students a more active role in activities in Hogwarts. McGonagall, naturally, decided that we could take it a step further—so here we are.” Teddy said. “And here you are. Welcome. This is a judgment-free zone, where you are free to be yourself. Regardless of pre-imposed house boundaries. Okay?”

Imogene managed to Conjure a chalkboard before talking some more. “First order of business: sorting out who’s who. How many Hufflepuffs do we have?” A large chunk of the students—including Oakley, Phil, and Louise—raised their hands. “Right. Ravenclaws?” Dan saw PJ raise his hand, along with one of the Weasley girls and a number of other students. “What about Gryffindors?” Most of the remaining students, including Zoe, her brother, and Chris, had their hands up. “And last and certainly not least, Slytherins?” Dan raised his hand. 

A pause as Imogene turned to face the Headmistress. “I thought you said there’d be more—”

“We decided these would be the—pilot-program, was the term you used, Mr. Lupin?—” Teddy nodded. “—the initial group of students from Slytherin that would be most optimal to integrate into the program before trying to expand the program to the rest of the house. Given the biases of many of the students in the house and their parents’ influences on said biases, we thought a smaller subset would be more prudent for now.”

“I see.” Imogene pursed her lips before turning back to the board. “Now that that’s out of the way, second order of business—issues that we could work on within committees?” A number of hands went up immediately. “I don’t know most of your names, so I’m going to ask the professors to help out.”

Professor Clearwater pointed in Dan’s direction. “Mister Oakley?”

The boy next to Dan suddenly looked rather nervous as he cleared his throat. “Erm, I was thinking that we could start a committee for the LGBT students in the school? Events for them, create a safer space—”

“Right, faggot, like you really need it.” One of the Ravenclaw students snorted.

“Twenty points from Ravenclaw, Mr. Davies.” Professor Clearwater snapped. “Insults will _not_ be tolerated in this meeting. Remember what Teddy said about this being a judgment-free zone?”

Davies gulped and nodded. Imogene blinked and continued. “Yes. An excellent idea—Mr. Oakley, was it?”

The Hufflepuff nodded. “I prefer Tyler, though.”

“Of course.” Imogene smiled as she wrote “LGBT Committee” on the board with her wand. “Any others?”

“Victorie?” Teddy pointed to one of the girls in the front row.

“A dance committee! Or social events, at least.” the girl said.

“Excellent!” Imogene scrawled the words “Dance Committee” on the board. “Others?”

-

Within twenty minutes, the board was full.

“Okay. I think we’re good on suggestions.” Teddy said. “Now, I’m going to pass around this parchment. I’ll need you to write your name, house, and top three choices for committees down. You will ultimately be placed on two committees. As for why we need your house even though we told you that we aren’t going to judge your house—we also value diverse perspectives, so each committee will have at least three houses represented on it.”

By the time the paper got to Dan, he’d decided what he wanted to do—

_Daniel Howell, Slytherin, 1) LGBT Committee, 2) Inter-House Studying Committee, 3) Magic-Muggle Relations Committee_

He passed the paper to Tyler and closed his eyes for a moment. Sure, he probably should’ve switched 2 and 3 around, but it was too late.

After the paper made its way back to Teddy, he, Imogene, and the staff talked for a few minutes while most of the other students sat talking with one another. Eventually, the seven adults at the front of the room separated and a hush fell over the crowd.

“We’ve just checked the time, and unfortunately we’ll have to end the meeting here so that the Hall can be set back up for supper. Your committee placements will be delivered to you by Monday. Our next meeting is next Saturday at two o’clock P.M. in the Great Hall. You’re free to go.” Professor Longbottom said.

Dan stood up and was out of the room relatively quickly, where he headed back to the common room for a little bit of relaxation before dinner.

-

“So what committees d’you all think you’ll be on?” Louise asked the group over that night’s dinner.

PJ shrugged. “Dunno. I mean—I put down a couple, and the ones that looked the most interesting were the Magic-Muggle relations and studying—” he paused long enough to glare at Chris, who’d coughed “nerd” into his arm, “—so, er, yeah. Those two. Anyone else?”

Phil spoke up. “I’m aiming for a spot on Tyler’s committee—sounds like a brilliant way to point out more of the diversity even within our own houses. And the Religious Unity committee.”

“I thought you weren’t?” Chris asked. “Religious, I mean.”

Phil shrugged and stirred around his mashed potatoes.

“Dan?” Louise asked.

Dan shrugged. “Honestly, as long as I’m not ostracized for being a Slytherin, I’m good.”

“Fair enough.” A silence fell over the group.

“So Quidditch tryouts went well.” Chris rolled his eyes. “Potter wants a re-do. Honestly, he wasn’t bad; he should be glad that he made reserves as a second-year. How’s he act so—”

“—like an entitled piece of shit?” Dan asked as he took a bite of his steak-and-kidney pie. PJ snorted and Phil chuckled.

“Yeah. That.” Chris said while the other two tried to contain themselves.

“Dunno.” Dan said. “Anyway, that’s your problem, not mine.”

“Fuck you.” Chris said.

“Not tonight, mate.” Dan snarked back.

“And really? ‘Mate?’ You Australian now?” PJ asked.

Dan threw a dinner roll at him, which Phil stopped mid-air.

“Guys—”

“Damn it, Phil, you’re no fun.” PJ faux-pouted.

“Yeah.” Dan and Chris chimed in.

Phil rolled his eyes. “Not my personal problem, then, is it?”

PJ started laughing, and soon the others joined in.

-

After the third loop-around on the corridor, the door appeared and Dan made his way back into the room.

He set up his recording equipment and relaxed before letting the camera roll.

“Hello, Internet! Been a bit. Okay, only a week, but still.” Dan said. “So the craziest thing happened last week after I recorded the video…”

He recounted the incident with McGonagall, making sure to modify the story a bit so it was more Muggle-friendly.

“But yeah, that happened. And we just had our first meeting today. It was pretty interesting—two alumni came back to talk and help run the meeting, so that was unexpected but nice. Hopefully it’s not a one-time thing—they both seemed pretty neat, since they both just graduated last year. And hey, they’re both busy, so it’s _totally_ cool if they don’t show up—one of them’s looking to play women’s rugby, while the other’s working towards a linguistics degree in uni. Don’t remember where he said, though.” Dan paused for a moment. “But anyway, this is gonna be pretty short tonight, since not too much has happened class wise except for getting tons of work that I should probably get back to. So if you liked the video—”

After finishing his spiel, Dan loaded the video up to be edited. He made sure nothing was too jumpy or too much of a giveaway about Hogwarts, and then got it up and running online.

He decided to check his last video—and nearly did a double take at the number of views.

“400,000?” he cried out. “You’ve got to be joking.”

But he refreshed the video and indeed, it wasn't a trick of his imagination.

“Holy shit. Up goes the pressure.” he muttered to himself as he logged off his computer and went back to his dorm, a new juxtaposition of excitement and nerves settling in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was going to go up Monday in honor of Hermione's birthday, but as I'm done I figured why wait?
> 
> The reason I changed the names of the subject is because Dan's Muggle relatives may get curious about what he's studying, so having names for the subject that sound like equivalents in regular Muggle schooling wouldn't break the Statute of Secrecy. I'll give out virtual cookies to anyone who can figure it out in the comments.
> 
> If you liked this chapter, comment/bookmark/leave kudos/subscribe/whatever.
> 
> Cheers!  
> -QC


End file.
